The overall purposes of the proposed feasibility study are to: (1) build on the findings of recent postpartum smoking cessation research by exploring previously untested factors that may place mothers of infants at risk for relapse, and (2) provide direction for a future clinical intervention trial to reduce their risk.
Specific aims are to: (1) explore the capacity of perceived infant irritability, perceived parenting stress, and evaluation of self as mother to predict smoking behavior and smoking abstinence self-efficacy, (2) establish criteria for at risk candidates for a clinical intervention designed to reduce the risk of smoking cessation relapse, and (3) based on study findings, provide an empirical basis for the refinement and development of a conceptual model for helping mothers of infants who face the challenge of being smoke-free. The significance of a project designed to promote the understanding and support of maternal smoking cessation during the first year after childbirth is underscored by recent findings that 50 percent of women who quit smoking during pregnancy, resume smoking by the time their infants are 3 months old, with the concomitant untoward sequelae for maternal and infant health. Mothers (N = 208) who identify themselves as having been smokers in the month prior to pregnancy and who quit smoking during pregnancy will be recruited into the study from a community-based clinical setting for low-income women. The study's conceptual model is an innovative blending of principles derived from two well-established models: the Relapse Prevention Model (Marlatt, 1985) and the Child Health Model (Barnard & Eyres, 1979). Data will be collected using a combination of face-to-face interviews, written self-reports, and carbon monoxide readings when the mothers' babies are 6 to 8 weeks of age (the peak age for in that crying). Data analysis will include multiple and logistic regression, discriminant analysis, and canonical correlation models. Implications for practice, research, and policy will be disseminated.
| Gaffney, Kathleen F; Beckwitt, Asher E; Friesen, Mary Ann (2008) Mothers'reflections about infant irritability and postpartum tobacco use. Birth 35:66-72 |
| Gaffney, Kathleen F; Henry, Linda L; Douglas, Charlene Y et al. (2008) Tobacco use triggers for mothers of infants: implications for pediatric nursing practice. Pediatr Nurs 34:253-8 |
| Gaffney, Kathleen F; Henry, Linda L (2007) Identifying risk factors for postpartum tobacco use. J Nurs Scholarsh 39:126-32 |
| Gaffney, Kathleen F; Baghi, Heibatollah; Zakari, Nazik M A et al. (2006) Postpartum tobacco use: developing evidence for practice. Crit Care Nurs Clin North Am 18:71-9, xii-xiii |
| Gaffney, Kathleen F (2006) Postpartum smoking relapse and becoming a mother. J Nurs Scholarsh 38:26-30 |
| Gaffney, Kathleen F; Molloy, Suzanne B; Maradiegue, Ann H (2003) Questionnaires for the measurement of infant environmental tobacco smoke exposure: a systematic review. J Nurs Meas 11:225-39 |
